Page 5 of The Forbidden Bodyguard

“No, not at this point. We’ll be recruiting managers to look after all the satellite branches while I manage them from LA.”

“Which we need to finalize and get those people in seats fast.” Josh tosses back the last of his coffee and taps his laptop. “Word-of-mouth growth in the private security side of our business has been enormous. You joining now is good timing. I hate saying no to money.”

I laugh.

“He’s not joking.” Aidan types a message on his phone, then flips it over. “This new client needs you to start tomorrow. Today, actually, but we told them they had to wait until tomorrow.”

They have my attention.

“Yeah?” I shift my frame in the chair, having removed the blazer, which I need a bigger size in, and lean my arm on the table. “Who is it? A politician? Some foreign businessman?”

Josh rubs his jaw, and I know the moment I glance at him that I’m not going to like the answer.

“Stella Voss.”

Who the fuck is Stella Voss?

CHAPTER TWO

STELLA

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My stylist shakes out my long, dark hair and fluffs around with it as I scroll through my phone. I’m ready to get out of here.

Why does it take so damn long to get your hair done these days? We can put a man on the moon, but we can’t cut and color a woman’s hair in under five hours.

I’m meeting my best friend, Charlotte, at Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle in twenty minutes, so need her to stop spraying and stabbing her comb through my barrel curls.

I normally wear it straight, but every time she decides I’d like curls before I leave.

Fine.

Just hurry up.

Bemelmans is a private club. Very old-school New York elegance. My family has a membership, and right now I need to stick to familiar and safe places.

My life is about to change, and I have no idea what to expect.

I have a bodyguard from my father’s security team, as I’ve had all my life, but as of tomorrow, my own guy will start. Dad doesn’t like it, but I put my foot down. And let me tell you, nobody puts their foot down when it comes to the notorious Victor Voss.

Trust me, I was raised by him, so I know.

I reminded him of what he was asking of me and that I was feeling unsafe because of that. Which is likely the only reason he relented.

My father is a powerful man, so as a young child I learned to keep my mouth shut. What other choice did I have? My mother did the same thing, and I followed her lead and instructions.

He was a scary father. I’m still scared of him, if I’m honest. It’s not like he’s a gangster; although when I was young I pretended he was and sadly got killed in some Godfather-like shoot-out.

That’s horrible, I know.

I do love my father.

Don’t we all, regardless of how we were raised?

This time he’s gone too far and asked me to do something I cannot stomach. But the consequences of not helping him are too horrible to imagine.

Two decades ago, he founded Voss Holdings, an umbrella company that owns multiple private clubs, real estate, and other random businesses. Some call him a tycoon and question how legal his income is.